Taliban Dismiss UN Concerns On Women’s Rights In Afghanistan

The Taliban on Friday rejected the UN Security Council’s call to reverse heavy restrictions imposed on Afghan women, dismissing their concerns as “unfounded”. The Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution on Tuesday that criticised the Taliban for limiting girls’ and women’s access to education, government jobs and freedom of movement since seizing power last year. Afghanistan’s supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada has also ordered women to cover up — including their faces — when in public, triggering international outrage. The Security…

Taliban Ban Afghanistani Women From Flying by Themselves

The Taliban have ordered airlines in Afghanistan to stop women from flying unless accompanied by a male relative, in the latest crackdown on basic human rights by the country’s new rulers since seizing power. The hardline Islamists have imposed sweeping restrictions on freedoms, mostly targeting Afghan girls and women, and on Sunday also ordered local television channels to stop broadcasting BBC news bulletins. Over the weekend, they also decreed that men and women could not visit parks in the capital…

Taliban Say Girls To Return To School ‘Soon As Possible’

The Taliban said on Tuesday Afghan girls will be allowed to return to school “as soon as possible”, after their movement faced international fury over their effective exclusion of women and girls from education and work.  The hardliners’ spokesman meanwhile announced the remaining members of Afghanistan’s all-male government, weeks after the militants seized Kabul in an offensive that shocked the world. The Taliban were notorious for their brutal, oppressive rule from 1996 to 2001 when women were largely barred from…

Afghans Fear For Jobs And Money After Taliban Takeover

As a nurse at one of Kabul’s main hospitals, Latifa Alizada was the breadwinner for her family, providing for her three young boys and unemployed husband. Now — since the Taliban rolled into Afghanistan’s capital — she too is jobless, and worried about the future. The 27-year-old left her role at Jamhuriat Hospital because the hardline Islamist group said salaries would not be paid, and imposed rules that would force her to wear a face veil and be segregated from…

Taliban Claim Total Control Over Afghanistan

The Taliban on Monday claimed total control over Afghanistan, saying they had won the key battle for the Panjshir Valley, the last remaining holdout of resistance against their rule. Following their lightning-fast victory in mid-August over the former Afghan government’s security forces and the withdrawal of US troops after 20 years of war, the Taliban turned to fighting the forces defending the mountainous Panjshir Valley. As the Islamist hardliners claimed victory, their chief spokesman warned against any further attempts to…

Afghan Resistance Force ‘Besieged’, Says Taliban

The Taliban said that their fighters had surrounded resistance forces holed up in Afghanistan’s Panjshir Valley but were looking to negotiate rather than take the fight to them. The announcement follows scattered reports of clashes overnight, with pro-Taliban social media accounts claiming gunmen were massing, and Afghanistan’s former vice president saying resistance forces were holding strong. Taliban fighters “are stationed near Panjshir”, spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid tweeted, saying they had the area surrounded on three sides. “The Islamic Emirate is trying to resolve this issue…

Defiant Afghan Ex-VP Vows To Fight Taliban

Afghanistan’s defiant vice president made one thing clear as the Taliban seized control of the capital following the collapse of his government — he will not surrender. It appears he has retreated to the country’s last remaining holdout: the Panjshir Valley northeast of Kabul. “I won’t disappoint millions who listened to me. I will never be under one ceiling with the Taliban. NEVER,” he wrote in English on Twitter on Sunday, before going underground. A day later, pictures began to…

U.S. boosts troops in Afghanistan in bid to secure Kabul

The United States is boosting its troop numbers in Afghanistan to 6,000 after the Taliban reached Kabul. The State Department and Department of Defense said they were aiming to secure Kabul’s airport for the safe departure of U.S. and allied personnel. “Over the next 48 hours, we will have expanded our security presence to nearly 6,000 troops, with a mission focused solely on facilitating these efforts and will be taking over air traffic control,” the departments said. BLACK MARKET DOLLAR…